Hobbit House - could this be wofati?

In my humble opinion (IMHO), this is BEAUTIFUL: http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm; though I can't quite tell if it's truly PSP. If this is what a PSP home could look like, well, what would you think then?

(Apologies for a new PSP thread, but this didn't quite seem to fit in any other PSP category.)

I'm kind of new to the topic in general. I'm curious Paul, as to the advantages of PSP over this design. From my quick study of each design, this seems to take PSP and improve upon it. Your words indicate you think otherwise.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." - Helen Keller--Jeremiah BaileyCentral Indiana

Posts: 27

posted 9 years ago

The best example of psp i have seen on TV had to be a bunker system built by the US military. Though i don't think they used plastic

If every speck of the roof goes downhill to the soil without ever touching something man made, then it gets blessed as PSP. Once blessed as PSP, your roofing costs can drop by a factor of 20 and your long term hassle factor can also drop by a factor of 20.

It seems to me that this house's roof drops to ground level around the windows and doors. Full drainage is direct to the ground from the sod roof. That drawing includes the windows and looks like ventilation on the left.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." - Helen Keller--Jeremiah BaileyCentral Indiana

Posts: 14

posted 8 years ago

I am new on this forum, so forgive me if I am overstepping any boundaries ops: Paul, I am an aspiring natuarl builder and love the sound principles of WOFATI, however, you previously asked "how is this system not more popular?" Unfortunatly, the majority of people willing to go the unconventional route of building their house - "want to have their cake and eat it too" so to speak. From reading other forums discussing the SImon Dale house this 'look' is very popular with people (and I can see why, it's adorable) So.... you said with a few minor adjustments this could be considered a WOFATI or WOFATI hybrid. Could you give some furthur advice on how you would go about making this happen. And last but not least, when do you plan on building your WOFATI?

jeremiah bailey

Posts: 343

posted 8 years ago

Ah, now that there is a wofati article, it is much clearer now.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." - Helen Keller--Jeremiah BaileyCentral Indiana

Posts: 17

posted 8 years ago

I wonder if the vinyl they use for billboards would make a good barrier between the straw and the earth?

jeremiah bailey

Posts: 343

posted 8 years ago

If it is impervious to water and durable, I suspect it'd be great.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." - Helen Keller--Jeremiah BaileyCentral Indiana

How to make the simon dale house a wofati: I think there would be some modifications to the roof so that it can hold more soil and adhere to the principles of no drop of water encounters a man made edge.

Hi (second post) I love the look and means.... but I've always wundered......... How do you keep the mice out?

Posts: 14

posted 8 years ago

just like any other house --- keep crumbs accessable garbage to absolute minimum and cats

Posts: 6

posted 8 years ago

the walls and cieling might be easy to seal off, but I can't imagine the mice not having ballroom dancing under those pallets. Maybe block them up high enough so the cat can have access ? Or.... (dare I say ?) some ESP instead of the straw?

jeremiah bailey

Posts: 343

posted 8 years ago

I'm pretty familiar with conventional building. They're not as sealed as you might assume. If you leave the mice a reason (crumbs, accessible food, etc.) they will find a way into even the most sealed of houses. If you consider how much volume of a conventional house is "wasted space", attic, inside framed walls, crawl spaces, you will see that Simon Dale's house actually has very little "wasted space" for mice to live. The biggest factor in housing mice, as mentioned by strangeloop, is the food supply. I believe it was also mentioned that walls and foundations were coated in a lime render which pests apparently don't like to burrow through.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." - Helen Keller--Jeremiah BaileyCentral Indiana

Posts: 6

posted 8 years ago

Guess I missed the Lime rendering...... sounds like something that could work. And your logic about crumbs and mice is the logic I used to have...... until I left suburbia and built a house out in the country. My findings are that mice tend to move into the great indoors in the spring and in the fall, when conditions in their natural habitat are not so lovely. No need for crumbs when warm and dry are a factor. I've even seen where they pack their wild grass seed in with them, or built nests where there was no chance of crumbs. But I can see where the lime could definitely be a deterent.

woodman wrote: I wonder if the vinyl they use for billboards would make a good barrier between the straw and the earth?

We have repurposed old billboard tarps into a yurt cover and various tarps. They are fairly effective, though not quite as thick as a commercial yurt cover. It's way thicker than "visqueen" (or at least most of it), though not nearly what pond liner is. It's fairly heavy. You need a very fancy glue to glue it reliably, but it does work.

I bet it would work great for this usage, as it's worst trouble is the sun.

jeremiah bailey wrote: Ah, now that there is a wofati article, it is much clearer now.

I have a concern with the up hill facing windows as shown and that is the mountain tends to slide downhill over time. I have seen this repeatedly. Old stone walls have a lot of dirt, all the way to their tops, on the up hill side. Eventually it spills over and buries the stone wall. With a house as shown in the WOFATI drawing I would want a large court yard, an atrium, between the windows and the uphill mountain and even more to catch the mountain before it fills the house with dirt (e.g., press up against the windows and then comes in).